Intercepts

Simple Solution to Condom Controversy

By now I assume everyone has heard about the new policy in the upscale school district in Provincetown, Massachusetts, that would provide condoms to students of any age – from pre-school on up.

I’ll leave the debate over that to the vast number of social commentators across the country, and instead focus on the provision that “requires school officials to keep student requests secret, and ignore parents’ objections.”

Here’s what Michele Couture, chairwoman of the town’s Board of Selectmen, had to say about it:

“I don’t know, you don’t want to take away a parent’s right to decide what’s right for their child. But it’s unrealistic to think that a parent saying no to condoms means the child’s going to say no to sex. They’re still going to have sex; they’re just not going to have a condom.”

This doesn’t have to cause such a huge fight. If Ms. Couture is convinced of what the kids are going to do, and is so certain of it that she will overrule their parents’ decisions, then she and the district should be perfectly willing to take the next logical step.

One Comment

What the children do off campus and off school time is *not* the school’s business. Additionally, it’s not the school’s place to override the wishes of parents. Schools should spend more time focusing on academic work and less on other such things, and I say this as a high school teacher.